After more than 13 years at the helm of Lucasfilm, katherine kennedy Is resigning from the Star Wars factory he founded george lucas.
walter disney The company announced Thursday that it will now hire Dave Filoni as president and chief creative officer to lead Star Wars into its 60th decade and beyond. Filoni, who previously served as Lucasfilm’s chief commercial officer, will inherit the mantle of one of Lucasfilm’s prestige franchises, serving as co-president alongside Lucasfilm president and general manager Lynwen Brennan.
“When George Lucas asked me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I could not have imagined what the future would hold,” said Kennedy. “It has been a true privilege to work with the incredible talent at Lucasfilm for more than a decade.”
Kennedy, Lucas’ handpicked successor, has presided over the ever-expanding sci-fi universe since Disney acquired Star Wars in 2012. Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger called her “a visionary filmmaker” in announcing Thursday’s news.
Kennedy led a lucrative but often controversial period in Star Wars history, resulting in blockbuster trilogies and critically acclaimed streaming spin-offs like The Mandalorian and Star Wars. “Andorra,” But the frustration among longtime fans is growing.
Under Kennedy’s leadership, Lucasfilm has amassed more than $5.6 billion in box office revenue and helped establish Disney+ as a streaming destination—achievement that easily validates Disney’s $4.05 billion investment in the company. But Kennedy also struggled to capture the big-screen magic that Lucas captured with the original trilogy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and her relationship with die-hard Star Wars fans became legendary.
Filoni has established himself almost exclusively on the small screen, breaking into the franchise with the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and creating the tepidly received Disney+ series “Ahsoka.” Filoni first worked with Lucas on “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” and also served as an executive producer on “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Skeleton Crew.”
Both will report to Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman.
“From Rey to Grogu, Cassie has witnessed the greatest expansion of Star Wars storylines we’ve ever seen,” said Filoni. “I am extremely grateful to Casey, George, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role and do a job that I truly love. May the Force be with you.”
Prior to joining Lucasfilm, Kennedy was one of the most successful producers Hollywood has ever produced. In 1981, she co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and her eventual husband, Frank Marshall. She produced “Alien,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Temple of Doom,” “Jurassic Park” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
At Lucasfilm, her biggest hit came at the start of 2015 “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The film, directed by J.J. Abrams, grossed more than $2 billion at the global box office. But in the next installment, Rian Johnson “The Last Jedi” (2017), caused great disagreement. Abrams’ third film “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019) was widely panned by critics and fans.
After The Rise of Skywalker, despite a slew of announced projects, Star Wars has been overshadowed on the big screen. Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu is set to break its drought in May. In the interim, The Mandalorian and Andor have found success on streaming, but the future of Star Wars has become increasingly uncertain.
Debates about tone and visuals occur frequently. this 2018 Han Solo spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired during production and replaced by Ron Howard. Most people find the results of mixing and matching disappointing.
Most recently, Adam Driver played Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the latest Star Wars trilogy,” revealed to the AP Last year, he and Steven Soderbergh developed a Ben Solo movie with the backing of Kennedy and Lucasfilm, before it was vetoed by Disney CEO Bob Iger two years later. Fans were so outraged that a plane flew over Disney’s Burbank Studios with a banner reading “Save ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’.”
Conversely, the only “Star Wars” film under Kennedy to win widespread fan approval was arguably 2016’s “Star Wars” “Rogue One.” Production on the Gareth Edwards spin-off also ran into trouble, leading Andorra’s eventual creator Tony Gilroy to oversee reshoots. Still, “Rogue One” — which takes place within “Star Wars,” but outside of the main Jedi storyline — may be the only film in Kennedy’s “Star Wars” reign that both stayed true to the space-odyssey tone and broke new ground.
Kennedy’s fingerprints will be on many upcoming “Star Wars” projects in the coming years. These include Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter with Ryan Gosling, due out in May 2027, and a slew of other projects in various stages of development.